I have an 03 Sport Trac 4x4. When i got the truck late 07 I was getting about 16 mpg with then it got colder in Wisconsin and it went down to around 14 -14.5. Last January I installed a Volant cold air intake. No noticable changes to mileage. In spring I put a scan gauge in the truck. Over the summer days when outside temps were upper 80s my trip mileages were getting up to 18.8 mpg. Tank fuel mileages with both the scan gauge and the odometer were upper 17's most of the summer. As it got colder out coming into winter I noticed that the instant economy readings while cruising were lower than my trip mpg in the summer. I started experimenting with getting warm air into the air box with some increases in mileage. Last week I put a heater core in front of the opening in the box for my cold air intake. Most of my driving since it has been between -5 and 15 degrees outside temps. The scan gauge has been showing around 60 degrees incoming air temp and my trip mpgs have been about 17 when they were 14.5 or so before the heater core. I'll have to wait a while to know for sure how consistent this is going to be. I haven't yet run a full tank of fuel with this setup and I think tomorrow is supposed to be the start of a big warm up heading to 40's so that will change up my experimenting for a little while.
Any body else ever try anything with a warm air intake before? It seems crazy I know, but my 1988 Ranger 4x4 with the 2.9L I had before this truck got 19 to 20 mpg year round whether it -10 or 90 outside so I just couldn't understand why the Sport Trac falls so bad cause it gets a little cold. But now I'm thinking its just the computer program. I have also noticed the exhaust temp runs about 200 degrees higher while driving on the freeway when it gets cold out as compared to when its warm out, so I guess the extra fuel is just heating the exhaust.
I'll try to post some more later when I get some more miles on. I opened up my coolant valve some more tonight to bring the incoming air temp up a little more, but like I said with warmer temps coming for a week supposedly I'm probably gonna have to close it some to keep the temps from getting to high.
Any body else ever try anything with a warm air intake before? It seems crazy I know, but my 1988 Ranger 4x4 with the 2.9L I had before this truck got 19 to 20 mpg year round whether it -10 or 90 outside so I just couldn't understand why the Sport Trac falls so bad cause it gets a little cold. But now I'm thinking its just the computer program. I have also noticed the exhaust temp runs about 200 degrees higher while driving on the freeway when it gets cold out as compared to when its warm out, so I guess the extra fuel is just heating the exhaust.
I'll try to post some more later when I get some more miles on. I opened up my coolant valve some more tonight to bring the incoming air temp up a little more, but like I said with warmer temps coming for a week supposedly I'm probably gonna have to close it some to keep the temps from getting to high.